When Darkness Rises
by Black Arcane101
Summary: Eggman had created a rip in the time-space continuum, causing monsters, places and even Mobians to be pulled from their worlds and wreck havoc on Mobius. However, this rip has also caused our blue hero to join the dark side. Will Sally and the Freedom Fighters, teamed up with the Chaotix and Team Dark, be able to stop Eggman and save Sonic from himself? CURRENTLY BEING RE-WRITTEN!
1. Dark Shard Cavern

"You'll not defeat me this time you nasty little pests!" yelled Dr. Eggman atop his supercharged robot "This beast possess state-of-the-art weaponry unlike any you have ever seen. It's even more powerful than E-123 Omega. Ho, ho, ho, ho! You'll have to get through me and my robot if you want to stop the Ultimate Annihilator!"

 **Earlier that day**

"Come on Sally, what's the problem?" Sonic continued to tap his foot against the metal ground. He was getting impatient. It had been an hour since Sally had organised a team meeting at Freedom HQ about Eggman's latest scheme. But finally the team had gathered around the table. They were all here. Sally walked over to the computer looking very uneasy and pressed a few buttons. An image fizzled onto the screen. A blueprint that looked slightly familiar to something the team have seen before.

"Rumour has it that the Dr has rebuilt the Ultimate Annihilator on Space Colony ARK" she said doubtfully as she pointed towards a large cannon-like figure on the screen. Everyone gave a sudden gasp.

"Sacre Bleu!" yelled out Antoine. "Zis cannot be!"

Sonic and the gang looked at each other like they were reading each other's minds. They turned towards the princess. "Knowing the Egghead, he has probably hired some of his goons to find the Chaos Emeralds for him" Sonic said. "If we can get them in time we can-Sal?" He turned to see Sally with her head in her hands. Everyone looked at each other with worried eyes.

Tails was the first to speak. "Are you alright?" he asked.

Sally looked up. "I'm afraid we won't be able to do much, because Eggman already has six of them!"

Everyone jumped out of their seats. "How is this possible?!" Sonic snapped, slamming his fist onto the table.

Sally kept herself together. "Using advanced technology. More advanced than ours. He has managed to locate and obtain the emeralds with powered up badniks and energy seekers" she said. "But that's not half of the story. He purposely used the Chaos Emeralds energy to rip a hole in the time-space continuum, bringing forth beasts from another world."

Sally and the gang returned to their original positions. A new image appeared on the screen. A monster that resembled a mutated Chameleon that glowed blue and purple was displayed. Everyone gave a disgusted look.

"Oh mah stars! What is that?!" shrieked Bunnie.

*These grotesque creatures are called Dark Gaia Spawns* Nicole said, appearing from her handheld. The moment she had said those words, Sonic, Tails and Amy looked at each other with frightened faces.

Tails stood up once again. "We have met these creatures before in the past. They are unpredictable and very strong" Sonic and Amy nodded in agreement.

*Yes. But they are normally controlled by Dark Gaia, a powerful beast. For some strange reason, Dark Gaia is nowhere to be seen…* Nicole replied.

Rotor was silent, scratching his chin in thought. Then he finally spoke. "If the Dr has ripped a hole in the time-space continuum, there's a chance Blaze and Silver have possibly been affected as well…"

"He's gone all out this time!" Sonic replied.

"Calm down" snapped Sally. "I have a plan!"

Everyone's faces lit up. "Go on" they all said.

Sally took a deep breath. "I have managed to locate the last chaos emerald in a cave not far from here. It has appeared to be created using dark energy." She said, pacing around the room. Sally stopped and looked towards the team. "We need to make haste! Eggman has probably located it as well. We need to get there and fast!"

Sonic smiled. "Don't you know who I am?"

As soon as the team were ready, they took off on their Extreme Gear with Sonic easily keeping pace beside them. Trees flew past them in a large green blur and the wind beat against their faces. Moments later the Freedom Fighters had reached their destination, Dark Shard Cave. They jumped off their gears and began to walk inside the caves gaping mouth, not seeing a large red robot heading their way.

"Remember be cautious. We don't know what's here and don't touch the crystals!" Sally whispered to the team.

"Let's hope we made it before ze Dr." said Antoine. They walked down a narrow, jagged corridor which had large, deep purple crystals protruding from the walls, ceiling and floor, giving off an evil vibe which sent shivers down Sonic's spine.

"I gotta bad feeling about this place…" he said with an uneasy tone in his voice.

"Me too" replied Tails.

"And I" said Amy further behind. Everyone looked quite worried.

"Let's find the emerald and get out of 'ere!" squeaked Bunnie. "This place is giving me the Heebie Jeebies…"

The team continued to walk until they stepped into an open room and in the middle was the Chaos Emerald. Everyone's spirits lifted when they saw the heavenly glow of the purple emerald illuminating the room. The area surrounding it was covered with sharp shards at least eight-feet tall. Some shards also looked quite fragile. Being cautious once again, Sally made her way towards the emerald while Tails and Rotor examined one of the thin crystals nearby. A somewhat violet mist was encased within them. They looked at each other and nodded.

"These crystals look like they have some sort of poison or chemical in them." Rotor said still looking closely at the shard. He them straightened himself. Antoine and Bunnie kept patrol at the corridor in case of thugs.

"Y'all take care in there!" yelled Bunnie as she looked over her shoulder. Sonic cautiously walked towards Sally whom has the Chaos Emerald in her hands.

She had a smile on her face. "We have foiled Eggman's plans for now" she said. "Let's get out of here."

Just as they were about to walk away from the centre of the room, the ground began to violently rumble beneath their feet.

"You're not getting out of here alive unless you hand over the Chaos Emerald!" boomed a familiar voice. He was nowhere to be seen.

They cringed. **"Eggman!"** they yelled. The rumbling finally stopped.

Sonic snickered, putting a hand on his hip. "Well, well, well. Baldy Nosehair finally decided to show up." Some giggles were heard but they were immediately interrupted by an even more violent rumble. The Freedom Fighters began to lose their balance. They could faintly hear Eggman's cackles.

"Let's see you get out of this! Feel the wrath of the Quakebot!" He said over the rumbling. Sally tripped over a small shard in the ground, slightly cutting her arm on a shard. Fortunately it wasn't fragile but the Chaos Emerald was sent flying out of her hand.

She shrieked. "Sonic!"

Sonic nodded and pointed towards the exit. "You guys get outta here! I'll find the emerald!" he yelled at the top of his lungs. Sally stumbled to her feet and the Freedom Fighters cautiously but swiftly made it to the exit. Sonic worked quickly through the fallen rubble, not caring about the cuts that tore his gloves and hands. He kept a sharp eye out for the glow of the Chaos Emerald. _"If Eggman keeps this up, the whole cave's gonna collapse right on top of me!"_ he thought as he frantically kept on searching. CRACK! The noise made Sonic stop and he looked up. A jagged line stretched from one side of the roof to the other.

"Shoot!" He quickly went back to rummaging through the debris and "AHA!" At last he had found it but time was of the essence. He had to get out and fast! As he entered the long corridor the room he was once in instantly collapsed with the sound of crumbling rocks and shattering crystals. Sonic looked behind him to see he was being chased by a violet cloud and it was catching up quickly. "If only there weren't any crystals in the way…" he said avoiding the shards. "I would be outta here in no time."

He attempted to speed up but it was no use as he tripped, slowing him down. The cloud quickly caught up. The mist burned his skin, like acid as he cried out. In an attempt to get their attention, he called out for his friends however it was no use as the corridor was too long for them to hear. Finally the mist surrounded him, burning him all over. He winced in pain, clutching his arm. He was desperate to get out. _"I need to escape"_ he thought. Every step Sonic took was excruciatingly painful. He let out a final loud cry before he succumbed to the pain, collapsing and slipping into darkness.

Outside the cave, everyone immediately looked up when they could feel the tremor no more. Eggman has probably thought he has done the job as they saw a red robot walk away from the scene. They heard an echo from the cave which caught their attention, before a massive purple cloud billowed from its mouth and they knew exactly who that echo belonged to. "Sonic!" they cried. The team began to worry. There was no response.

"This… this is not possible." Sally said falling to her knees. Tears began to well in her eyes and she put her head in her hands. All of a sudden, footsteps could be heard coming from inside the cave. Sally looked up to see the gang eyeing the entrance. Out of the darkness came… Sonic! Sally jumped to her feet with gleaming eyes and she ran towards him with open arms. "You're alright!" she piped and gave him a hug.

Rotor looked uneasy. "There's something not right about him…" he whispered to Tails. He nodded in agreement. Sonic just stood there, not looking very happy to see his friends, and no smile as he stared at the ground. Sally let go and looked at him with a worried face.

"Sonic?" He closed his eyes.

"Why do we risk our lives to save this pathetic world?" he said in a deeper tone than usual, his voice gaining a reverberating Echo. Another deeper voice spoke in tandem and just slightly out of sync, making the illusion of another person talking at the same time. _**"Why is it me to always risk MY life?!"**_ Sonic opened his eyes and they glowed white; no irises could be seen. A dark aura surrounded him; his fur grew dark, almost black. His spines raised and he began to levitate. He looked very much like his super-state, but an evil version. Sonic smiled. _**"Let's see you suffer!"**_


	2. Corruption

Sally stepped back with a shocked look. "W-what happened to you?!"

Sonic looked back at cave mouth which was still spewing the mist. _**"The mist is pure darkness"**_ he said sternly. _**"One quick breath and evil takes over. Even the strongest of heroes can't fight it."**_ He looked back at his former friends unblinkingly. He raised his hand and clenched his fist, blood trickling down his gloves. Black energy began to form around his hand. _**"I can feel the darkness, its power coursing through my veins. With this, I will recreate this pathetic excuse for a universe as my own. All those who fight against me will suffer horribly! Everyone will be dead by the time I am finished!"**_

"No!" they yelled. A wave of energy pulsed from Sonic's body, knocking the Freedom Fighters off their feet as some crashed into nearby boulder. The wave also caused nearby trees to break like toothpicks, some falling onto his "friends". He began laughing. _**"The Sonic you once knew is no more!"**_ he said and flew off in the blink of an eye, leaving carnage in his wake and leaving his friends unconscious in the middle of his destruction.

"Hey Vector! Hey Vector! Hey Vector!" piped Charmy excitedly.

He was getting on the crocodiles nerves. "WHAT?!" he yelled, startling Ray and Charmy.

"How long until we get to the mysterious cave?" asked Charmy, waving his arms around the place.

"How many times have we told you?! We are NEARLY THERE!" snapped Vector and Knuckles. It had been a while since The Chaotix had left Angel Island in search of the seventh chaos emerald. Knuckles the Echidna, Vector the Crocodile, Espio the Chameleon, Charmy the Bee, Mighty the Armadillo and Ray the Flying Squirrel had travelled very far. Suddenly Knuckles stopped and held his arm out in front of his team.

"Did you hear that?" he asked. They all shook their heads.

Mighty pointed into the distance where a cloud of purple smoke was rising above the trees. "Something has happened." It was not long after he said that when the Chaotix heard voices distance.

"NO!" they seemed to yell before a shockwave shot past their faces.

"T-t-that didn't s-s-sound good!" whimpered Ray. Knuckles cringed.

"Those voices belonged to the Freedom Fighters. Let's go and find out what happened." They nodded and they began to run towards their new designated location. They continued to run through the forest at a remarkable speed. However, things began to change. There were no Mobini's to be seen and carnage of trees began to shape the forest. "This is very bad" thought Knuckles as he looked around. Finally the Chaotix had reached the clearing where the Freedom Fighters layed unconscious outside a once intact cave surrounded by skeletal trees that have either, withered, splintered or destroyed. Espio ran towards Rotor who was sprawled on a boulder with a mass of cracks embedded into it and examined him for wounds. Fortunately they were minor scratches and bruises. He moaned and struggled to open his eyes.

"What happened here?" asked Espio. Rotor sat up wincing in pain. Charmy looked around, a worried look on his face.

"Where's Sonic?" he asked nervously.

Rotor bent his head in despair. "He… was the one who caused all of this…" The Chaotix looked shocked.

"What?!" they yelled.

"What in the name of Chaos made it possible for him to do so much damage?" murmured Mighty.

"I'll tell you everything when we get back to Freedom HQ." replied Rotor. "But first, let's get the others back to headquarters." One by one the Freedom Fighters began to wake up, being assisted by the Chaotix back to Freedom HQ where their wounds would be nurtured. Before they left the ruined cave, Rotor collected a generous sample of the mist. When they returned he handed it to Nicole and she began examining it carefully and thoroughly throughout the night.

Dark Sonic held Eggman by his throat. _**"Tell me where you're keeping the Chaos Emeralds and I won't threaten to kill you Dr."**_ he said with an evil grin. His demonic voice sent shivers down the man's spine.

"I won't!" gasped Eggman. Dark Sonic tossed him to the ground as if he were nothing.

" _ **Fine then. Have it your way. You keep them for now. But remember, we are in an alliance. You were meant to tell me where they were but this will be your only warning. So in order for you to have my trust, I have but a small, important task for you."**_ Eggman staggered to his feet, rubbing his neck

"And what would that be?" he wheezed, making an attempt to hide his fear.

Dark Sonic laughed maliciously. _**"Heh, heh, heh! Oh Eggman. It's nothing too challenging. All I want you to do is guard the Chaos Emerald."**_ He handed Eggman the violet emerald from which he had obtained from Dark Shard Cave. _**"This is the one I managed to retrieve before YOU destroyed the cave!"**_ He walked towards the window, looking at his reflection in the window. _**"And there's no point using them to power the Annihilator."**_ Dark Sonic snapped his fingers and a loud boom came from the centre of the ARK. Eggman gave a gasp of horror and the corrupted hedgehog began to laugh demonically as he walked towards the exit, and then stopped near the air-lock.

 _ **"Oh... By the way if you see my friends..."**_ he stopped and ran his finger across his neck as if he was slitting his own throat. He then suddenly launched himself at the door and flew directly back to Mobius, leaving Eggman to deal with the vacuum attempting to suck him into space. _**"Once this universe is mine, I'll be unstoppable! Ha, ha, ha, ha!"**_

Eggman was finally beginning to lose his grip as the vacuum showed no mercy. "Orbot! Cubot! Activate the safety hatch!" he yelled over the scream of the space vacuum.

"R-right away sir!" replied the spherical robot and a large door closed over hole tightly. He breathed a sigh of relief.

He stood up and smiled greedily at the Chaos Emerald in his hand. "Ho, ho, ho! Sonic is a fool if he thinks he can trust me with the Emeralds!"

Orbot rolled up to him, collecting them gem off him. "Are you sure this plan is going to work sir?" he asked.

"He will think we are working together. I will rebuild the Ultimate Annihilator and when he least expects it... BOOM! He's out of my misery!" Eggman gently rubbed his neck. "The within him is getting stronger as he craves and absorbs more energy. Sooner or later he will return for the Emeralds energy. We must make haste!" He walked over to his ruined cannon and at once began to work with Dark Gaia spawns guarding their master and the Emeralds in a nearby room.


	3. Plan Begins

Early next morning, the Freedom Fighters and the Chaotix awoke healed and fully regenerated. The teams had gathered in the meeting room to further discuss their plans. Nicole appeared out of her little handheld. *Alright* she immediately said. *We know Sonic has turned on us thanks to that mysterious smog.* Everyone nodded in agreement. *I have been researching and examining it overnight. This substance is called 'Dark Mist' and it very nasty stuff. I will tell you more later, but first, I'll hand this over to the princess.*

Sally got up out of her chair and walked towards the front of the room. She took a deep breath. "We are up against something huge, so we will need more allies and I know you all aren't very fond of them" Knuckles instantly knew who they were and creased his brow. "Team Dark" exclaimed Sally. Some of the team cringed while others moaned in disbelief.

Suddenly Cream and Cheese come charging in huffing and puffing. They halted at the door, bowing in apology. "Sorry for the interruption but there are a few people who would like to see you" Cream said timidly.

"Chao, chao!" Cheese burst out.

*Let them in please* replied Nicole. Cream and Cheese quickly ran out of the room and returned with... Team Dark and two new but familiar faces, Blaze and Silver.

Shadow the Hedgehog had his arms folded across his chest. He wasn't pleased to see everyone. "Hi Blaze! Longtime no see!" piped Amy.

Blaze smiled. "It's nice to finally see you again and young Cream" she said soothingly, patting the rabbit on the back.

"Its been a while Tails" said Silver.

"Too long" he replied. Shadow, Rouge and E-123 Omega were rapidly losing their patience.

"We are not here for the happy reunions" Shadow said coldly. "We are here to talk about what has happened lately."

Sally nodded. "Just the team we need."

For a while Sally and Nicole had been informing Team Dark, Blaze and Silver about what had happened in the past few hours and their plans to stop Dr. Eggman. "It's a decent plan" Rouge exclaimed. "However, we are greatly outnumbered."

Omega looked at Rouge with an emotionless gaze. ***BUT WE HAVE THE STRENGTH TO MAKE UP FOR IT***

Sally sighed. "Indeed, but we can't predict when Dark Sonic will appear and how strong he is so we will need to keep an eye out at all costs during this that we have our plan, we need to find a cure for Sonic. Nicole, if you please."

Sally and Nicole swapped places. *Ahem, not long before Team Dark arrived, we were talking about the Dark Mist that took over Sonic. It is so powerful that it can take over even the most strongest of will. Not even Shadow would be able to fight it.* For once, Shadow looked surprised as he turned his head away from the group. *The power from the mist was off the charts. He's probably so powerful, not even an army can defeat him.* Everyone's eyes widened.

"What about our super states?" asked Silver calmly.

*It would only be enough to power him down briefly. Unfortunately the cure isn't going to be very easy for some of us to execute.*

Blaze looked confused. "And why is that?" Sally had been quiet this whole time, not upset, but thinking hard about something or someone.

*Sally has been at it for a while.* Nicole replied. *We need to try and change his mind. Try to make him remember who he is.*

"I see, we have known Sonic for a very long time and we are very close as friends. Will that be enough?" asked Silver.

Nicole shook her head. *It won't be enough to bring Sonic back to normal. We must persuade that what he's doing is wrong. Another way is to say something deep. Something strong enough to weaken the darkness inside of him and help him fight it* A glimmer of hope shone in everyone's eyes.

"Like an unforgettable memory?" piped Amy.

Sally nodded. "If it is enough, he will be able to fight the darkness within him and hopefully prevail." Sally tapped her forehead. "Remember, it has to be meaningful, something that he wouldn't have forgotten." The team instantly began thinking long and hard about their adventures with the legendary hedgehog. Team Dark looked at each other, having no choice but to do the same as everyone else.

"What if it doesn't work?" whispered Rouge to Shadow and Omega. "I'm not exactly sure but I know everyone won't be the same again" the black hedgehog replied coldly. Sally looked up at everyone with a determined look.

"We start by Nightfall!"

As the sun began to set on Mobius, the team began their assault on Space Colony ARK. Their first mission was getting to the ARK without being detected. Rotor took out a warp ring from his bag and tossed it in front of him. It grew large enough for a six-foot Mobian to walk through with ease. In the centre of the ring, an image appeared revealing a room, the metal walls shining against the rings rays. Rotor looked at everyone who were eager and determined to get the plan into full swing.

"Okay everyone!" said Rotor. "We need to keep a low profile. If any of you get caught by the Dark Gaia spawns, Sonic or Eggman, contact each other through the transmitters I have given you." The team looked at their wrists where a small black, watched-like object was strapped on, then they quickly looked back at the walrus. "Chaotix" he said. At the sound of their name, the group came together. "You're up first. Find where Eggman has hidden the Chaos Emeralds. Contact Nicole or Sally when you have located them." They nodded and ran through the warp ring and disappeared.

"Team Dark" Sally said. Their attention turned to the princess. "You will have Blaze and Silver accompany you." They did nothing but a sudden "Hmph!' was heard. Sally handed Rouge a small, rectangular device, a time bomb. "When you find the Annihilator, plant this on it."

"How long do we have until it goes off?" asked Shadow, arms still crossed.

"An hour. Contact me when it has been planted. Go!" Sally said and Team Dark ran into the ring, also disappearing. Sally turned her head towards the Freedom Fighters. She gave a small smile. "Let's go find our friend." They nodded and walked into the warp ring which closed shortly after Tails passed through.


	4. Dark Gaia Titan

The area changed from lush forest to rusting metal in a matter of seconds. The Freedom Fighters instantly began to make their way down the gloomy corridor. Bunnie guided the way with a flashlight from her robotic arm. The ARK was in terrible shape with rusted metal panels, cobwebs, the sound of dripping water from the ceiling and the air was cold like death. The team suddenly stooped in their tracks when they heard a distorted roar further along the hallway. They braced themselves, weapons drawn and fists clenched. Slumping from out of the darkness appeared a creature Nicole had shown them yesterday.

It glowed blue, green, black and purple. Red, glowing eyes stared right through the team. The creature seemed to resemble a mutated rhino beetle and was at least the size of Vector. Teeth the same colour as the beast serrated the edges of its mouth and a large, bulky tail swayed behind it. It bellowed again and charged at its new prey with it mouth open wide, strings of saliva covering the inside of it. Sally again clenched her fists and a pair of blue energy blade materialized from the rings on her wrists.

"I've got this one!" she said with a smile.

She yelled her battle cry and charged directly at the monster. It lunged at the chipmunk but she was quick on her feet and swiftly dodged to its left as if brought down its claws. She sliced into its side before skidding to a halt behind it. The abomination shrieked in pain as black and purple mist began emitting from its wound. Not noticing the rest of the group, it again rushed at Sally faster but she was ready. Sally back-flipped over the monster, stabbing it in the head and landing gracefully with one hand on the ground. The beast let out one final bellow before dissolving into the black and purple mist. The mist swirled around before fading away into nothing. Sally straightened herself and looked over her shoulder with a smirk. She hadn't even broken a sweat! The group cheered for her.

"There must be a lot more of them if they're that easy to kill" she said calmly. She relaxed her fists, the blades retracting as she waved her arm, urging the team forward. "Let's keep going."

They continued through the dark, cautiously searching for their possessed friend. The Chaotix ran as fast as they could through the ARK trying to find the Chaos Emeralds. "I can sense them nearby!" huffed Knuckles.

Eventually they ran into a large, dark room crawling with Dark Gaia spawns. At the sound of their footsteps; the lead monster shrieked at its companion and they ran towards each other, forming a giant warrior-like mutant. It still faintly resembled a rhino beetle but it had a human-like body. Spikes lined it shoulders from its neck, purple circular symbols glowed all over its body. Sitting atop the bulk, a small, horned head with a beady violet eye looked down at them. A large, tree trunk tail hung out from behind it and it held a colossal club which looked strong enough to obliterate massive structures like they were a tower of cards. Knuckles could feel the presence of something familiar. The power of the Chaos Emeralds.

"They are in here!" he said.

Vector looked at him. "No kidding! Why else would Eggman put a huge monster in here?!" he replied.

"Watch out!" yelled Ray as he quickly flew out of a large shadow that loomed over the team, the shadow belonging to the monsters club. Everyone managed to get out of the way just in time except for Mighty as it crashed into him with an earthshaking THUD! Knuckles rolled before skidding to a halt.

"No! Mighty!" he cried out to his friend. He cringed, anger boiling inside of him. He was going to show that monster what for. Suddenly, before he could attack, the monsters club began to shake, before rising. Standing in the clubs crater was Mighty preventing the abominations attack. He was slightly scratched, but overall okay. He struggled against its raw power with one eye open and teeth bared, he managed to speak.

"Finish it off!"

Knuckles nodded, happy to see his friend alright. "I'll help Mighty! You guys deal with the monster!" he yelled. As the Chaotix charged, Knuckles ran toward the club and jumped in the air several feet away with his fist clenched and raised. "HRRAGH!" he yelled as he slammed his fist into the hard wood. It cracked under the enormous power and broke into many small splinters. The monster roared in anger as his club was obliterated and his enemies threw punches at it, avoiding its clawed hands and lashing tail.

Mighty fell to his knees, huffing but with a smile. "Thanks Knux. *Huff* I owe you one."

Knuckles helped him to his feet. "Are you sure you don't need to rest?" he asked with a concerned tone.

Mighty shook his head. "I won't rest till the very end. Let's go!" They charged at the weaponless monster with fists clenched.

"Show him whose boss!" the echidna yelled.

Team Dark stared at the Ultimate Annihilator towering above them, Rouge with the time bomb in her hand and Eggman nowhere to be seen.

"Sally this is Rouge, do you read?" the bat said into her transmitter.

*Loud and clear* Sally replied.

"We are just about to set the bomb. Is everyone ready?"

*We have just obtained the Chaos Emeralds* Espio said calmly. *Mighty and Knuckles are finishing off our unwanted guest as we speak.*

Team Dark could hear yelling from the transmitter before hearing a bellowing roar and a loud thud.

*We are ready now* he said. Rouge placed the bomb onto the large cannon. It made a buzzing sound before showing the numbers "1:00:00" and they began to count down. "What do we do now?" asked Shadow.

*Nicole wants you to meet up with us in the main control room* Sally said. *Be quick about it! Sally out!* The transmitter fizzled before the transmittion ended.

"Something doesn't seem right…" Silver said quietly.

"I agree." Blaze replied with a hand on her chin. "The Annihilator was left unguarded. Not something that Eggman would do."

"He's up to something else. I can feel it." Shadow said as he looked down the dark hallway which led into the room. Omega suddenly turned towards the small group after staring at the cannon.

 ***TIME UNTIL DETONATION, FIFTY-EIGHT MINUTES, TWENTY-FOUR SECONDS AND COUNTING…*** Team Dark nodded at each other and began running at a remarkable speed towards the control room. In good time the three teams made it to the control room through the dark and abandoned corridors. The room they walked into appeared to look very different from all the others the groups have stumbled upon. Instead of rust and grime, there was recently polished metal and a shining computer at the other side of the room.

Sally smiled. The plan was working a lot better than anticipated. "Okay, so stage two of our plan is to find Sonic and persuade him back to his normal self. Does anyone need a reminder?" the princess asked. All the team members shook their heads. "Great! So let's follow the plan. Now all we need to do is-"

 _ **"I believe you have forgotten something"**_ said a familiar, demonic voice from the corridor in which they came in. His eyes glowed bright white in the gloomy hall. He walked out of the darkness, an evil grin on his face.

 _ **"And that is how you're going to get out of here alive."**_ Everyone braced themselves for a fight they knew they couldn't win.


	5. Freedom Fighters vs Dark Sonic

"Don't do this! It isn't you!" Sally said as she cautiously walked towards the dark hedgehog. "You're better than this! You fight for good, not evil!"

Sonic swiped his hand. _**"Enough of this! The Sonic you once knew is gone!"**_ he replied harshly. His deep voice striking the hearts of the younger members. Dark Sonic ran towards Sally, ready to strike. The princess managed to dodge out of the way in the nick of time, embedding the hedgehogs' fist into the wall, leaving a spider web of cracks in his wake.

 _"That would have been me…"_ Sally murmured to herself. She then turned towards the Chaotix. **"NOW!"**

At her command, they ran towards Dark Sonic. Just before they were able to get a hold of him, Sonic managed to free his fist of the metal wall and send a wave of energy towards the team, sending them flying backwards. _**"Ha! Did you think such a foolish move would hold me?!"**_ he yelled. His deep voice sounding lower.

Sally smiled. "No but this will! **GO!** "

Omega fired several rockets from his shoulders. They travelled and blew up on the ground in front of the dark hedgehog. Black smoke began to rise from the ground and fill the room completely, corrupting the hedgehogs' vision. _**"Huh? What is this?!"**_ he said viciously. Attempting to make out any of his victims, Sonic looked around, his glowing eyes easily giving him away. Suddenly, he felt a sharp pain on the back of his head. He stumbled before he was grabbed and restrained by a number of Mobians. As the smoke cleared from the room, Sonic turned his head sideways to see his captors. He could make out five figures and another figure in the distance glowing cyan with his palm facing the hedgehog. Knuckles, Vector, Rotor, Mighty, the one who dealt the blow, Shadow and the psychic user, Silver.

 _ **"Let go of me you fools!"**_ he yelled as he struggling between the power. His voice sounding even deeper.

"Sonic! You have to fight it!" snapped Rotor. "Think about what you have done for the world! You didn't destroy it, you saved it!"

"Think about everything you have done with us!" joined Amy.

"The adventures" said Silver.

"The teamwork" added Blaze.

"The bonds" finished Tails.

Sonic cringed. _**"ENOUGH!"**_ Another blast of energy sent his captors flying, the cyan light faded as well. They all hit the ground hard but quickly got back on their feet. The dark hedgehog held out his hand towards the team, black energy seeping from it. Without another moment's hesitation, he fired. Dark energy spears flew towards the team.

"Get out of the way!" Sally yelled and everyone either jumped to the left or the right, rolling before regaining their footing. The spears exploded where they used to be, leaving a large array of scorch marks in their place. He then teleported out of sight. "Everyone stand guard. He could appear anywhere, anytime" the princess said as she looked around her. It was quiet, too quiet, except for the loose cables giving off a slight spark every now and then. Before the heroes could take another blink, the corrupted hedgehog appeared directly in front of Sally with his fist at the side of his head.

" _ **Surprise!"**_ he said and delivered a forceful punch onto the side of her face, sending her sprawling through the air. She hit the ground, rolled twice and skidded to a halt. In a heartbeat, black energy enveloped the remaining member around the neck, causing them to be lifted in the air. Sonic was using dark energy to strangle them. He held his arm out like he was choking someone, slowly closing his fist. They all let out a gasp and attempted to pull the energy away in effort to bring air into their lungs. Sonic then shot a blast of energy towards Omega, sending the walking arsenal into shut down mode. It slumped over and did nothing.

With his hand slowly closing, he walked over to Sally who was shakily regaining her footing. He grabbed her neck and slammed her into the wall, pushing tighter on her neck as she let out a gasp of pain. He smiled maliciously, his empty hand almost closed. Sally looked towards the team, some still fought while other didn't move. A wave a fear swept over the princess. _"They have to be alive"_ she thought worryingly. Sonic's fist closing around her neck caught her attention again as she struggled against his strength. He stared at her, enjoying the fear he could see in her eyes. _**"I should kill you all here and now!"**_ Everyone prepared themselves for death and Sally closed her eyes, waiting to hear him snap her neck. But he didn't do anything. Instead, his glowing eyes widened. Memories flashed through his head. Sonic released his victims from their hold and he fell to his knees, clutching his head like he was fighting an evil entity inside of him. Sonic cried out before falling onto his hands, breathing heavily. The heroes gasped for breath and checked on the Mobians that were still. Thankfully, they were still alive, just unconscious.

Sally coughed and put a hand on Sonic's shoulder. "Listen to me." she wheezed. "You would never put your friends in danger or let them suffer. You protect them from all evil even if it means risking your life to save them." Sonic cringed, teeth bared, and then he shook his head.

"…Sally…" he said, opening his eyes to reveal that they weren't glowing anymore. However his body was still emitting the dark aura. His emerald green eyes looked towards the princess. "Eggman's waiting for you in the next room… be careful." With a worried look, she stood up as Sonic continued to struggle.

"What about you?" she asked.

"…Don't worry about me… I'll be right… _**behind you."**_ He replied with a strain in his tone. His voice wavering between his regular tone and his demonic tone.

Sally nodded in understanding and looked towards the team with a fire of determination in her eyes. "Tails! Rotor! Can you get Omega operating again?" The two shook off the dizziness in their heads and nodded in response. Soon the robot was up and running. ***E-123 OMEGA POWER REBOOT… SYSTEMS NOW ONLINE***

"Omega! How long do we have until detonation?" Sally asked

The robot paused briefly before responding. ***TWENTY-TWO MINUTES, THIRTY-NINE SECONDS AND COUNTING…*** it said.

"Plenty of time" the princess replied. With a swift wave of her hand, she ran down the corridor leading into the next room, being followed by the rest of the team leaving Sonic to fight the darkness within him.

 _ **"Please be careful…"**_ Sonic said under his breath. His demonic tone returning.


	6. Bad Memory

Blackness surrounded him. There was nothing but him. There was no walls, sky or ground; just empty space. Sonic was inside his conscious. He lay on his knees, clutching his head to stop his invisible enemy from tampering with his mind. His teeth bared as he let out a small growl of pain.

 _ **"You can never stop me you fool!"**_ boomed a deep, demonic voice around the azure hedgehog. The familiar voice didn't seem to come from one particular voice. It echoed loudly. _**"The evil you were exposed to was enough to completely possess even the strongest of souls. It would take more than a miracle to overcome me!"**_ Sonic staggered to his feet using his left hand to assist him. Shaking off the headache brewing, he managed to speak.

"It's gonna take more than that to bring me down!" he yelled. "Just who do you think you are anyway?"

The voice let out a menacing laugh. _**"Ah my friend; I am but a mere part of you. A darker side of you. I have always been here but I haven't shown myself until now. Your anger overcame you which has empowered me to become even stronger. And I plan to keep it that way."**_ Memories began replacing the darkness as they slowly faded into existence. Sonic then realised something, they were his memories! Memories that were twisted. Memories before the Pre-Super Genesis Wave (If you have read the Archie Comics, you'll understand where I'm heading.) that still haunted him The only thing left unchanged was the floor the blue hedgehog stood on. This brought worry towards him.

 _"Is he trying to torture me?"_ he thought. At that very moment, the voice began to speak. _**"I am causing all of your most hated memories to rise to the surface. It will be more than pleasing to watch you fail at being the hero you were meant to be"**_ Suddenly, a memory appeared in front of Sonic. He let out a gasp as he knew what it was.

 _"Finally a decent challenge!" piped Sonic as the titan-like Silver Sonic charged at him with a deadly hand threatening to crush him. Startled by the robots speed, the blue hedgehog jumped out of the way and unleashed his trademark spin-dash on the robot with a loud THUD. Staggering back slightly from the attack, Silver Sonic curled into a saw-like ball and charged at its enemy. Sonic once again leaped out of the way and laughed._

 _"Come on Egghead! Is that all you got?!" he yelled aloud with a smile._

 _"Sonic, it's only a distraction! We need to keep going!" said Sally from a nearby corridor. Her handheld started glowing and a small figure appeared out of it._

 _*How are you going to persuade him out of this?* asked Nicole._

 _The princess shook her head. "We can't. I guess we have to go ahead without him for now. He can catch up when he's finished" She cupped her hands over her mouth. "Sonic! I'm going ahead. Hopefully the Death Egg's core is nearby!" The hedgehog didn't respond as he continued to clash with his robot version of himself._

 _"Ho, ho, ho!" cackled Eggman from his control room. "Now that Sonic is distracted, I can eliminate them one by one, activate the genesis wave and make them miserable all at the same time! But first…" He pressed a button next to him and spoke into a microphone nearby. "Do you honestly think you'll prevail this time princess?" he mocked._

 _The many speakers in the corridor screeched at the man's voice. *With the rest of your team fighting my air forces and Sonic fighting my robot; how can one person think they can do it all by themselves?* Sally cringed as she raced down the hallways, occasionally checking her handheld for directions._

 _"Shut it Robotnik!" Sally said. "No matter what you throw at us; we will never stop fighting! We will never give in to you! Even if it kills us; we will do whatever it takes to bring you down!" Eggman just smiled maliciously._

 _*We will see about that your highness!* Eggman typed a command into his keypad in front of him and laughed._

 _As she continued to run down the hallways, Sally knew she was getting closer to the core. "And once I get there, the Death Egg will be no more and the citizens won't have to live in fear any more. Finally we can live knowing Eggman is gone for good." Her thoughts were interrupted when she heard the sound of metal against metal. "Badniks…" she thought and skidded to a halt before turning into another corridor. Her eyes went wide with horror at what she saw. A machine turret on the roof was fixed on her, threatening to fire._

 _*Goodbye Sally!* blurted the speakers of the evil man._

 _"No…" Sally murmured._

 _*Sally!* yelled Nicole._

 _ **BANG! BANG! BANG!**_

 _Sonic stopped and turned towards the corridor in which Sally had run through. "No, no, no!" he thought before a metal fist collided into his face, sending him flying across the room and into the metal wall. He slumped to his knees and staggered to his feet. Ignoring the pain on the side of his face, he spin-dashed into Silver Sonic's head, leaving a large dent in its place._

 _The robot sprawled onto the ground and shook a little. *WaRnInG. Bzzt. SyStEmS uNrEsPoNsIvE. BEgGiNnInG bzzt rEbOoT sEqUeNcE.* With the robot disabled for the time of being, Sonic once again turned towards the corridor with worry._

 _"Sally? Can you hear me?" he yelled. There was no response. "She's alright. She has to be" he thought. The sound of scraping metal made him turn around._

 _The robot helped itself to its feet, red eyes glowing. *SYSTEMS ONLINE. RESUMING BATTLE SEQUENCE* the robot buzzed._

 _Eggman smiled deviously. "Snively!" he yelled._

 _"C-coming uncle!" squeaked a voice. From a nearby room a small figure appeared. He wore a green vest very similar to what Eggman wore. He lacked hair on his head but what stood out most was his Pinocchio-like nose which outstretched from his face. He stumbled a few times before finally coming to a halt next to Eggman. "Yes uncle?" the small man asked timidly._

 _Robotnik smiled again. "Activate the Genesis Wave." Snively bowed his head in response and ran over to a nearby computer._

 _"Activating now sir" he said and pressed a button. Soon the room began fading into white._

 _"Now I can rid myself of those annoying pests once and for all!" Eggman yelled at the top of his lungs before fading into the white._

 _"Yes sir…" sighed Snively as he too followed Eggman._

 _"I've got no time for this!" Sonic thought as he began racing down the corridor, leaving Silver Sonic to disappear into nothing. "Sal!" he yelled again. As before there was no response. As he continued, he stopped as he saw a familiar object lying in the middle of an abandoned hallway. It seemed damaged, very damaged. He turned and walked towards it to get a better look at it. He gave a gasp on horror and stopped in his tracks. The object was Nicole! "No… I can't be…" Struggling to hold the tears back, Sonic fell to his knees and looked at the floor. Then at the top of his lungs he yelled "Sally!" before the white light caught up with him and he disappeared._

Sonic fell to his knees, tears welling in his eyes as he breathed heavily. "After the wave, I managed to save her from the turret. We both split up. I searched for Eggman while she searched for the main core. What I didn't realise is she managed to detonate the core. She saved all our lives by sacrificing her own… causing her roboticization" Sonic said quietly.

The voice once again laughed. _**"Ah it feels good to see you in such a way. Your anger and your sorrow. A great combination to fuel my power!"**_

"But…" the hedgehog continued.

 _ **"Hmm?"**_ the voice sounded surprised.

He staggered to his feet, wiping the tears from his eyes. "That was a different timeline. She's still alive, not a robot. The Freedom Fighters are still together. All of my friends are fine. It was like none of that ever happened."

The memories started fading, leaving Sonic once again in darkness and the voice roared in fury, its demonic voice sounding even deeper than before. _**"How is this possible?! I had you cowering before me! You have ruined everything!"**_

The hedgehog smiled. "I wasn't seeing things right because of you. Those memories are now but nothing more than a bad dream to me. And you are nothing but a bad memory!"

A deep roar of pain and fury arose before slowly fading. _**"I will be back Sonic and when I return, you won't be able to stop me or be rid of me. I am a part of you!"**_

"A part of me that I don't need…"


	7. Final Battle part 1

As the Freedom Fighters raced down the hallway with the Chaotix and Team Dark, they entered a dark and gloomy room; very much like the one they were just in however it was much bigger. The room was untidy and looked like no one had been in it for a long time. Looking hard enough, the group saw scorch marks and electric cables littered the walls, floor and roof. "Something bad must have happened here…" Rotor said under his breath.

"Whoever caused this, they did quite a number on it" Vector finished.

"No time for sightseeing. We need to find Eggman" Sally explained.

"That won't be necessary princess" said a familiar voice. "Because I'm right here!"

The team turned around at the sound of his voice. Glowing, purple eyes stared at them through the dim light. The dark room lit up slightly revealing the owners of the eyes and a large lizard-like robot twice the size of the Mobians. Sally knew instantly that the creatures were Dark Gaia Spawns but there were many different varieties of them. Some looked like wasps, magicians and birds but the most common were the chameleon-like creatures.

The robot resembled a lizard on its hind legs. Bronze metal shone dimly in the low light. Its right hand was replaced by a scythe-like sword while its left hand consisted of razor sharp claws. Outstretched from the bottom of its back layed a long, thick tail with a long sword at the tip. The sword looked sharp enough to slice anything up like a hot knife through butter. Supporting the machine were two thick legs that ended with three claw-like toes. Implanted into its chest was a large, glowing red orb which sparked red electricity every so often. The head of the robot largely resembled that of a horned dragon. A large, needle-like mouth opened to reveal several serrated teeth and sparks of electricity which formed at the back of its mouth. Where the eyes were meant to be was a large pod with a large figure piloting the large mechanical monstrosity.

" **Eggman!"** the group yelled. The man smirked. "What do you think of my new robot? Meet Egg Lizard. One of my best creations yet. It possesses state-of-the-art weaponry unlike any other. It's even more powerful than Omega! Nyah, ha, ha!" Although with no emotions, Omega seemed offended by the doctors' words.

 ***NEGATIVE. I AM A WALKING ARSENAL UNLIKE THAT POOR EXCUSE FOR A KILLING MACHINE***

"What makes that robot so much better?" Tails asked stubbornly.

Eggman just smiled. "Oh you'll see soon enough my furry friend." The robot suddenly came out of its slumping stance and pointed its sword hand towards the group. "Spawns! Attack at will; Leave no one alive!" All at once the spawns let out roars, bellows and shrieks and charged at their new victims.

Each team member took on at least two of the spawns and all that was left was Sally to verse Eggman. "Are you going to fight or be a coward?" Sally said, pointing towards the cockpit of the machine.

"Oh don't be so impatient!" Robotnik replied. "I have a particularly special creature for you my good friend. Say hello to the Nightmare" At those words, one final creature appeared out of the darkness. It looked like the spawn she had fought a short while ago but it appeared different. For a start, it was much taller than the previous creature.

The Nightmares' horn was covered in many small spikes and was fairly larger. The claws, teeth and tail were much larger as well. A darker blue shaded the spawn and the purple rings glowed intensely. The spawn let out a screeching roar and charged at the princess with its claws at the ready. Sally brought forth her ring blades and too, charged at her new enemy. They collided with each other, blades with claws. Sparks flew from their collision as they were sent skidding backwards. Sally was first to recover from the attack as she again, charged at her foe with her ring blades in front of her for protection.

"Sally look out!" yelled Amy as she batted away a bird spawn with her hammer. The princess didn't have time to react as a wasp spawn charged at her with its stinger ready to strike. It was suddenly enveloped by a cyan light and was thrown into a bunch of monsters surrounding the Chaotix. Hovering above the fight was the silver hedgehog, his right arm crossed in front of him. With a swipe of his arm, he sent out a blade of cyan energy at the collapsed monsters. They all let out a shriek of pain as the energy blade connected before disappearing in a pile of violet mist.

"Thanks!" yelled Sally as she slashed at her adversary, leaving a nice gash in its hide. It let out a bellow from the back of its throat and lashed out. She deflected its attack and did a backflip to gain distance between. "Are you doing alright Silver?" She asked.

"Heh, I've fought worse!" the hedgehog replied.

Sally smiled. "Tell the others to go after Eggman when they're done. I've got this guy to deal with." She pointed her thumb towards the dazed spawn.

"Gotcha!" he replied and flew to the other part of the room.

She turned back towards the Nightmare and smiled. "Now; where were we?" In some sort of response, the creature roared and charged again but she was ready. As the monster got close enough, it extended its claws out, ready to pierce her flesh. In quick reflex time, Sally kicked its arm out of the way, hacked its arm off with one clean slice from her blades, swivelled on her heels and planted her blades directly into the beasts' chest. The Nightmare gave a gurgling screech of pain before dissolving into the purple mist.

Soon the roars and cries of falling creatures died down and then there was only the Freedom Fighters and Eggman left standing. The team were breathing hard after the long battle; even the strongest members were exhausted; but they knew that the fight was nowhere near over yet. "Ready to give up yet?" mocked Eggman.

"In your dreams Eggface" Tails replied, his voice full of determination.

"Give up now while you're still unscathed and you might be lucky to survive the ARK detonation!" yelled Sally, pointing towards the large mech.

"Me? Give in? Now? Not while I'm so close to turning you meddlers into abstract art!" The large robot let out a metallic roar of anger as it readied itself for a fight as did the team.

"This is it guys." Sally said. "If we beat him, Mobius will be out of danger. This is the big battle. Freedom Fighters CHARGE!"

Everyone let out their battle cries as the fearless team went face to face with their greatest rival. A battle to save the lives of millions of innocent people.


	8. Final Battle part 2

**Sorry for the wait guys. I have had a major writers block. I wanted to update all my stories before I am buried in school work again but alas, I'm back at school. Holidays are just too short. :( I have fixed up my story so I'm sure it'll be a bit better.  
But I am proud to announce that "When Darkness Rises" has reached over 1,000 views! I never knew it was so good! Anyway, thank you to everyone that has read my story. It has really made me happy. XD So here you go, another chapter filled with action!**

The heroes charged at their towering foe, weapons drawn and fists at the ready. The mechanical monster let out a low roar of challenge that sounded very much like screeching metal. With a swift swing of its right arm, the monster slashed at the heroes. They all dodged sideways, Antoine fending it off with his sword and Amy batting it away with her hammer gripped tightly in her hands. The brawlers fiercely punched at the monsters legs, attempting to get it off balance however, no dent was made.

"What is this thing made of?" Knuckles said between punches.

"Something I have never seen" replied Rotor as he delivered a forceful punch enough to break a Mobians ribcage.

Deciding that playtime as now over, Eggman decided to pull off one of its special moves. The orb in the middle of its chest began sparking more red electricity. The robot let out a metallic roar and a pulse of energy was emitted from its metal body, electrocuting the team in the process. Some of them let out a cry of pain while others grimaced. The pulse sent the group sliding across the ground and flying into walls, the force strong enough to cause a spider web of cracks to expel from where the Mobians made contact with the wall. The energy wave dissipated into nothing, leaving only Eggman and his robot unscathed.

"Do you honestly think that it would be that easy?" Eggman mocked. His robot also letting out a some-what demonic laugh. "The Egg Lizard is far more powerful than any of my creations you have ever faced. Fighting it will only bring you to your doom!" Red electricity continued to surge through the fallen team, Charmy, Ray and Tails now unconscious. The remaining team shakily got to their feet, ready to continue the fight once again.

"It's going to take more than a little bit of electricity to stop me doctor!" Shadow spat, a chaos spear forming in his right hand. He charged at the robot and jumped into the air. Before he could throw his energy weapon, the robot swung around, using its tail as a massive club to bat away the hedgehog. The spear vanished from Shadow's hand as he was sent smashing through the wall of the ARK. Sparks flew everywhere and sheets of metal were torn from the wall. The hedgehog was left embedded into the next wall in the room nearby and layed there unconscious.

"Shadow!" Rouge yelled. Angry she too ran at the robot and took the air. She propelled herself and began to spin, faster and faster towards the Egg Lizard, aiming directly at the cockpit.

"Back her up everyone!" Sally yelled, bringing forth her weapons. Once again everyone charged at the robot. "Omega! Fire!" The arsenal launched rockets at the robots feet and chest before sending out a barrage of bullets, making sure not to accidentally shoot any of its allies. The rockets successfully met their target and blew up instantly. Severely damaging the core and the legs of the machine. The robot stumbled from the force. On top of that, Rouge landed her drill kick on the glass of the cockpit, leaving a nice crack on its surface. Eggman's face grew red, making the robot swat the bat away with its left hand like a fly. She crashed into the wall and let out a cry of pain. She then fell to the ground and didn't move.

Fists and weapons connected with the robots sword, legs and tail. That one distraction caused it to be surrounded. "Eat fist!" Knuckles yelled as he let out a massive punch, breaking the Egg Lizards leg from the joint.

"Egad!" Eggman shrieked as he felt the robot topple to its left. Using its free hand, it supported itself and summoned another electric field around it, again electrocuting and sending the team flying. They let a cry of pain as yet more electricity surged through their bodies. Eggman let out a small cackle as the field began to attract the scrap metal and wiring on the floor. The scrap began to connect itself to the robots lost joint and then to its hull. Its broken leg was now fixed. Small sections of silver was visible. Using her arm to lift herself, Sally got to her feet as well as Blaze, Silver, Knuckles, Rotor and Mighty. The others now out cold and Omega's drive was fried. "Did I mention that my robot has auto-repair?" Eggman said calmly.

"Shut it Egghead!" Knuckles snapped. "We don't care what magic tricks your robot can do! We will still be able to defeat you!"

"And we have a few tricks as well" said Blaze. "Now!" She summoned a large fireball in her hands. The ball gave off extraordinary heat. She then fired it directly at her foe. Silver joined in on the attack by using a cross energy blade which also flew directly at the robot. The fireball engulfed the robot in purple and red fire, setting it alight. The energy blade followed the fireball, colliding with the flaming structure and setting off an explosion of smoke. The shock wave flew past the small group, sending smoke into their direction. Covering their eyes with their arms, they let the smoke pass by. When the smoke finally cleared, the robot was in bad shape. The core on its chest was severely cracked; parts of the robot had melted and quickly cooled thanks to the psychic wave. It looked stiff and didn't move.

"Did we do it?" Silver asked, hoping the battle was over. In a somewhat response the mechanical monster roared in fury.

"You idiots think that a little fireball and energy blade is going to stop this thing?!" Eggman screamed, pointing directly at his two attackers. "It's going to take more than that!" At those words, something plunged into the robots left hand, making a small explosion and causing the hand to detach from the Egg Lizard. "What the?" Eggman said confused. The robot turned its attention to the new attacker but was suddenly pushed back when a strong force collided with its chest. Struggling to regain his robots balance, Eggman could faintly hear a familiar voice. "Chaos…"

"SPEAR!" the voice yelled. A blade of yellow energy embedded itself into the robots chest and instantly blew up, causing the robot to stagger yet again.

"Why you little!" the man yelled. From the smoke appeared a black and crimson hedgehog with his fists tightly clenched. A small amount of blood trailed down from his mouth.

"That was a poor thing to do doctor" Shadow said coldly. He shot forward with his fist raised at his foe. Before the attack could meet its mark, the robot swung out its tail with a swift turn, colliding with the hedgehog causing him to fly into the group of standing Mobians. They slid across the ground and once again rose to their feet but not quickly enough. The robot swiftly raced towards the group and directly at Sally, its sword ready to pierce her flesh. In an attempt to protect herself, she crossed her arms in front of her face, closed her eyes and waited for the attack. But nothing happened. Instead, the conscious team let out a gasp of horror.

"No. It can't be…" Knuckles said in disbelief. Sally opened her eyes to see what happened and screamed at what she saw.

 **Cliff-hanger! I bet some of you already know what has happened but don't spoil it for the others ;)  
Once again, I want to thank you all for helping my story reach 1,000 views. It really means a lot to me and makes me determined to make my other stories even better! Keep being awesome everyone XD.**


	9. Emotions

**Hey guys. I finally managed to update my story. I only have one thing to blame for the wait… HIGH SCHOOL. Ugh! The work keeps coming!  
I am nearing the end of "When Darkness Rises" and I want the viewers opinions, should I have a good or bad ending? Give me your answer in the reviews please.  
So I won't keep you waiting any longer. Here ya go!**

Everything seemed to stop. It felt like time had frozen around her. All Sally did was stare at the one who took the blow. Sonic stood in the swords path, the weapons tip impaled deeply into his stomach. Blood flowed freely from the wound, dripping onto his shoes and staining the metallic floor. A small flow of blood trailed from his mouth and down his chin. His body writhed in pain; eyes wide open from the attack. The princess then looked towards the remaining team with tears threatening to fall. All that she could see was shock, even Shadow was shocked. Again she turned her head towards Robotnik, a devious grin stretched from ear to ear. The robot retracted its sword, now covered in the blood of the hero, causing Sonic to collapse to the floor and lay motionless, and his chest to the ground.

Shock soon turned to anger. Sally glared directly into the cockpit of the murderous robot; tears still welled in her eyes. Eggman just stood in his machine, laughing, almost maliciously, in triumph. His victory was "cut" short when he felt his robot stagger and fall to its right. He quickly turned his head to check the problem to find its leg had been cleanly sliced off, leaving hot metal and sparking wires in his attacker wake. Making an attempt to get rid of this new foe, Eggman commanded his robot to once again bring its field up.

"No you don't!" yelled a female voice. In a blur of blue and brown, Sally appeared and stabbed her rings blades viciously into the red core on the Egg Lizards chest. Sparks flew from the red glass, preventing the robot from using its energy shield. The princess then pulled her blades from the robots chest and landed on the ground, swiftly running behind the robot and jumping onto its shoulders. She plunged the blades deeply into its back, causing it to shudder violently. The monster let out one last metal roar before reeling backwards. Sally jumped off the machine with an elegant backflip; landing in front of it almost immediately after it hit the ground. The cockpit opened up, releasing a large amount of smoke and a coughing man. He stumbled out of his smoking pod and onto the floor, using his once working mech as something to lean on as he continued to cough. The princess, still angry, slowly paced towards the vulnerable man with her ring blades still at her side.

"First you tried to bury us alive in that cave and cause Sonic to become evil" she spoke as she got closer. "Then you nearly kill all of us here with your now piece of scrap!" Her voice now rising in tone. "And now you forced Sonic to sacrifice himself to save my life you intended to finish!" She was now standing directly in front of him, her eyes like bullets. "I should return the favour but I'm not that kind of person. Now get out of my sight before I change my mind!" Backing away slowly, Eggman turned and ran to a nearby escape pod.

"I'll be back!" he yelled. "And next time you won't be so lucky! Orbot! Cubot!" The red and yellow robots appeared from the smoking cockpit and accompanied their master, joining him inside the pod. The pod closed and ejected, leaving the victorious heroes alone. Tears returned in Sally's eyes.

"We succeeded but at the cost of the hero of Mobius" she thought. The tears now running down her face. She bowed her head and slammed her fist against the defeated robot. Silence filled the room for a brief moment before a small cough was heard. Turning her head, she saw the body of the blue hero moving. A glimmer of hope lit up in her eyes as she ran towards the fallen figure. Sally fell to her knees next to him and carefully rolled him onto his back. Sonic gave a small smile. He was pale, his wound continued to spew red liquid. He looked weak, clearly shown by him that he was struggling to keep his eyes open. His breathing was also shallow. The remaining team had risen to their feet and accompanied the princess and their dying friend.

"We…we did it" he whispered, his emerald green eyes looking duller than usual. Sally struggled to hold back more tears that threatened to fall.

"I know. But now look at you. What were you thinking?"

"Heh. You saved… my life. If you guys didn't help me when you did… I would have killed you; everyone. I just returned the favour."

"We need to get you back to HQ now. You'll be fine when we get you there."

Sonic just shook his head slowly. "Don't bother."

"But I can't just give up on you now!" Sally yelled, more tears streaming her face.

"You've done everything you can to help me and I am grateful for that." The hedgehog put a cold, shaky hand on her face. "Now for me, keep fighting… never give up on what's most important." His eyes slowly began to close. "And never forget… I… love you." Sonic's hand fell away from Sally's face, falling to the floor. His eyes closed and his head rolled to one side. There and then, the blue hero breathed his final breath and moved no more.

Sally became even more worried. She shook the limp figure. "Sonic?" she asked, hoping for a miracle. She knew he was gone and she couldn't believe it. It felt like her world had just stopped. No longer able to hold back her emotions any longer, she bowed her head and cried. Some of the group turned away, not daring to show their emotions to the others while the rest bowed their heads, also fighting back their tears. They too knew that their friend, Mobius' hero, was dead.

 **I upset myself :'(  
I'm hoping this wasn't too dramatic, but it was my attempt at making it emotional. I bet it didn't work…  
And no it's not Sonally. If you have read the Archie Comics, you would understand.  
Don't forget to vote for which ending you want in the reviews. Thank guys! XD**


	10. Alternate Ending: Bad

**Don't like depressing stuff then I recommend you don't read this. READ THE GOOD ENDING INSTEAD!  
If you guys really wanted a bad ending then here it is. Enjoy! X3**

For a short while the group just stood there, the others coming around and waking to a horrible sight. As long as the younger members didn't have to see what he went through. The room was only filled with sobs and whines before a low voice filled the room. "Someone get Omega running again." Making an attempt not to cry anymore, Tails began to work on the disabled machine being accompanied by the walrus. Long minutes went by and they had finished getting the arsenals system online once again.

 ***E-123 OMEGA COMING ONLINE*** he buzzed. ***CURRENT MISSION, ESCAPE ARK. TIME REMAINING: ONE MINUTE, SEVEN SECONDS AND COUNTING*** The sudden alert made everyone jump in horror.

"Oh my gosh! Quick! Someone get the warp ring out of my pack!" Rotor yelled. Immediately after he had said that, Tails quickly fumbled through the bag, his hand soon closing over something. His worried expression changed to even more worried when he grasped the object and pulled it out. In his hand was a golden object, the Warp Ring! But large dents covered its shiny surface and it was bent in a strange way.

"It should work right?" Charmy asked, a fearful expression also lining his face.

"We'll find out!" Tails said and threw the object in front of him, making it bounce strangely before it fell to the ground. The team let out a gasp of horror and stared at the object which now lay useless on the ground.

"I-I thought Warp Rings were unbreakable…" Knuckles murmured.

"Afraid not" Shadow replied.

"Can't you use your powers Silver?" Blaze asked worried. The psychic user shook his head hesitantly.

"I can but I can't carry all of you at once." Silver said with despair. "There's just too many of us. Even if I could, I wouldn't be fast enough to escape the explosion…"

Omega once again interrupted the team. ***WE MUST MAKE IMMEDIATE ACTION!*** he alerted. ***TWENTY THREE SECONDS REMAINING.***

Shadow then looked at Knuckles with an idea in his head. "What if I used the Chaos Emeralds to use Chaos Control and get us all out of here?"

"How are we sure we can trust you?" Knuckles snapped, beads of sweat dripping down his forehead.

"We don't have any other way!" Amy screamed. "Stop complaining and get to it!" Knuckles knew it was the only way but it took time to channel enough energy to teleport so many. Without another moment's hesitation, Shadow closed his eyes, yellow energy enveloping him.

 ***FIVE SECONDS AND COUNTING*** Omega said.

Sparks of electricity surrounded him as if he was a living lightning bolt.

 ***FOUR***

The light continued to grow until it was too bright for the heroes to look at him.

 ***THREE***

"Come on Shadow!" the ebony hedgehog heard some of the other Mobians yell.

 ***TWO***

He opened his eyes and was ready.

 ***ONE***

"Chaos…" he began.

"Freedom HQ"

Nicole, Cream and Cheese couldn't stop worrying about the team. They hadn't received a response from Sally since they planted the bomb and it had been exactly fifty nine minutes since then. Then something caught the lynx's attention. A muffled noise. It must have been the bomb going off.

"Was that the bomb Miss Nicole?" Cream asked. The Holo-lynx nodded in response. Walking to the entrance of the HQ, she was expecting the crew to be there thanks to the Warp Ring. But to her shock, they weren't. This worried her. Maybe it was something else? But she had the feeling it wasn't.

*It's been an hour exactly…* she mumbled to herself. Maybe the Warp Ring took them somewhere else. It was possible that the communicators would still work as long as they weren't damaged or the team were near Mobius. Walking inside, she reached the computer and tried to reach any of the members. *Sally! Do you read me?* she said. There was nothing but crackling noises. *Sally! Do you copy?* Once again the crackling sounds replaced her voice. *She must've damaged her communicator…* Nicole thought and decided to try the others.

"Is everything okay?" the young rabbit asked as she watched the hologram try to get hold of her friends.

*Yes, yes!* Nicole suddenly replied. She then began to try and get in touch with other members.

*Rouge! Can you hear me?* Nothing.

*Espio! Is everything alright?* Not a word.

*Please! Someone respond!* The crackling noise returned. She hadn't lost hope yet. She remembered all the team members had trackers on them just in case they were ever separated during a mission. The tracker was strong enough to find them even if they were in a different world or trying to be covered up by the most powerful of defence systems. Using her skills with technology, she had the tracker searching for them almost immediately. After a few short moments, the tracker finished its scan.

 ***Location of Sally Acorn: Unknown*** it read.

 ***Location of Miles Prower: Unknown***

 ***Location of Knuckles: Unknown***

 ***Location of Shadow: Unknown*** For every member of the team, including Sonic, they couldn't be found anywhere. Not on the ARK, not on Mobius, nowhere. Nicole then realised what must have happened.

*No…* she said quietly.

"Miss Nicole? Are they okay?" Cream asked with worried eyes.

"Chao?" Cheese asked.

*I-I'm so sorry Cream…" the lynx started. *They didn't make it…*

 **I am legit running from people who hate this ending but don't worry cuz you have the good ending to read. If this is how you want the story to end, well that's just nice. For some reason I always need people to die from explosions (sorry if that sounded nasty.) Probably because I play too COD. :P  
So anyway, hope you enjoyed it! If you don't read the good ending then I'll say it here.  
THANK YOU, MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL YOU FOLKS OUT THERE!**


	11. Alternate Ending: Good

**Well, this is it guys. The very last chapter of "When Darkness Rises." That is partly the reason why I have kept you all waiting for so long. The other reason is all the things that have been going on. End of School, Christmas and other stuff.  
So here you all go, the Good Ending to my first fanfic! Enjoy!**

For a short while the group just stood there, the others coming around and waking to a horrible sight. As long as the younger members didn't have to see what he went through. The room was only filled with sobs and whines before a low voice filled the room. "Someone get Omega running again." Making an attempt not to cry anymore, Tails began to work on the disabled machine being accompanied by the walrus. Long minutes went by and they had finished getting the arsenals system online once again.

 ***E-123 OMEGA COMING ONLINE*** he buzzed. ***CURRENT MISSION, ESCAPE ARK. TIME REMAINING: ONE MINUTE, SEVEN SECONDS AND COUNTING*** The sudden alert made everyone jump in horror.

"We have to get out of here now!" Silver yelled as he traded worried glanced with everyone. "Or we are going to be blown to bits!" Wiping the remaining tears from her stained cheeks, Sally regained her footing and stared at the now immobile robot that had put an end to Sonic's life. She returned her gaze to the corridor the team had entered from.

"We can use the warp ring here. It will save our energy and now we have to carry someone…" she shook off the memory. "Rotor, if you please?" Not saying a word, the lilac walrus lifted the crumpled hero off the ground, not seeming to care about the blood that slowly dripped from his wound and ono his hands.

"Someone get the warp ring out of my pack!" Rotor said, trying to keep his cool despite the situation. Immediately after he had said that, Tails quickly fumbled through the bag, his hand soon closing over something. His worried expression changed to even more worried when he grasped the object and pulled it out. In his hand was a golden object, the Warp Ring! But large dents covered its shiny surface and it was bent in a strange way.

"It should work right?" Charmy asked, a fearful expression also lining his face.

"We'll find out!" Tails said and threw the object in front of him, making it bounce strangely before it fell to the ground. The team let out a gasp of horror and stared at the object which now lay useless on the ground.

"I-I thought Warp Rings were unbreakable…" Knuckles murmured.

"Afraid not" Shadow replied.

"Can't you use your powers Silver?" Blaze asked worried. The psychic user shook his head hesitantly.

"I can but I can't carry all of you at once." Silver said with despair. "There's just too many of us. Even if I could, I wouldn't be fast enough to escape the explosion…"

Omega once again interrupted the team. ***WE MUST MAKE IMMEDIATE ACTION!*** he alerted. ***TWENTY THREE SECONDS REMAINING.***

Shadow then looked at Knuckles with an idea in his head. "What if I used the Chaos Emeralds to use Chaos Control and get us all out of here?"

"How are we sure we can trust you?" Knuckles snapped, beads of sweat dripping down his forehead.

"We don't have any other way!" Amy screamed. "Stop complaining and get over it!" Knuckles knew it was the only way but it took time to channel enough energy to teleport so many. Without another moment's hesitation, Shadow closed his eyes, yellow energy enveloping him.

 ***FIVE SECONDS AND COUNTING*** Omega said.

Sparks of electricity surrounded him as if he was a living lightning bolt.

 ***FOUR***

The light continued to grow until it was too bright for the heroes to look at him.

 ***THREE***

"Come on Shadow!" the ebony hedgehog heard some of the other Mobians yell.

 ***TWO***

He opened his eyes and was ready.

 ***ONE***

"Chaos…" he began.

The timer gave a quick array of beeps before lighting its fuse, causing a vicious ball of fire to erupt from the Annihilator and itself. The ball grew to an enormous size, engulfing the ARK in the process and leaving nothing in its wake.

White. That's all Sally could see. She couldn't see anyone or anything else. It was just white that completely surrounded her. _"Am I… dead?"_ she thought. Sudden thoughts flew through her head until she came to a conclusion. _"I guess Shadow didn't have enough time…"_ At that thought, the light began to glow burning bright, making the princess close and cover her eyes with her arms.

"My head…" that was the only thing that came out of the princesses mouth. She felt the bright light subsiding around her and decided it was safe to re-open her eyes. Being cautious if the light was still there, ocean-blue eyes scanned their surroundings shortly before opening wide in shock. She was… in a forest, on the ground, staring directly at the crystal clear sky. Leaning up, she looked further more looked around. The lush forest was certainly familiar to the princess. It also wasn't far from HQ which made her breathe a sigh of relief. She was exhausted, sore and depressed, making her sigh sound more upset than relieving. Focusing more on the ground this time, she found the rest of the team lying in the leaf litter, also in the same state she was once in. Almost all of them were once again regaining consciousness, groggily rising to their feet as well as the auburn princess.

"Are we dead?" asked a certain red echidna under his breath. He was still clutching his head as if he was making an attempt to stop the storm in his head.

 ***NEGATIVE*** replied a robot. The mechanical voice was all too familiar to the Mobians, making them less worried of where they were (Cuz a robot can't go to heaven.) ***ACCORDING TO MY SCANNERS, WE ARE SEVERAL METRES FROM THE ENTRANCE TO FREEDOM HEADQUARTERS*** Sally's suspicions were correct.

"For now, let's get inside and deal with the matter at hand." She spoke so everyone could hear her.

"What matter? We stopped Eggheads plan!" boomed a familiar voice.

"The matter is that Sonic's-" she turned around and paused her sentence. That voice… was she hearing things? It couldn't be him. But she was seeing it as well. Maybe she was hallucinating as well? But the rest of the team was looking directly at him as well, mouth agape. Could it really be him? The figure blinked a few times before breaking the silence.

"Uh… is everything alright? And what were you going to say? I'm…?" Sally rushed towards the blue figure and embraced him in a tight hug, catching the Mobian by surprise.

"You're alive Sonic! You're alive!" the princess cried out, joyful tears welling in her eyes. "B-But how?" The hedgehog seemed quite confused.

"I've been alive this whole time. Are you okay?" the blue blur asked as he returned the hug. Sally looked up at him.

"You don't remember anything about the battle?" the auburn girl asked, tilting her head slightly.

"Heck yeah I do! We completely scrapped Eggman's robot and blew up the Ultimate Annihilator!" Sonic replied with a cocky grin.

"But, you were impaled and…" Sally couldn't finish the words. Just thinking about it made her want to cry but it was like it had never happened. Sonic pulled her away with yet another confused but shocked expression on his face.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! Have you not seen? I am perfectly fine!" Sonic gestured to himself and he was right. Where his deep wound had once been was nowhere to been seen and all the blood that had been spilled had vanished. Sally could easily see that his fur was also replenished of its navy colour.

" _I still don't understand…"_ the princess thought. _"He was gone when we left the ARK and teleported here. Unless…"_ She looked at him with a big smile. "Enough about what happened today! Let's get back to HQ and celebrate our victory!" Excitement filled the eyes of the team as they started talking about the return of their favourite blue friend, also making their way in the direction of the base. Team Dark began walking the opposite direction.

"We must be off now" Shadow said over his shoulder. "G.U.N will be wondering where we are."

"Shadow wait!" Sally said as she walked up to him. The ebony hedgehog paused and stood there, not bothering to turn his head. "I just want to thank you for what you did. I- we really appreciate what you did. And I know that you helped Sonic." Shadow's ear flicked at the sound of those words. Personally he was quite shocked that anyone would thank him. Shrugging of the comment, he, Rouge and Omega continued their way.

"I did what must be done. But next time, don't bet that you'll be lucky. It was fortunate enough I managed to get you all out of there in time. And don't expect me to be so generous either." With that, the group of three walked into the deep part of the forest and vanished out of sight.

"Sal! C'mon!" Sonic said from behind her. At the sound of those words, she turned around with a smile and ran in his direction. She may as well enjoy herself while everyone was together. She knew that soon enough Silver and Blaze would need to return to their dimensions and the Chaotix would have to return back to Angel Island. And she knew that Eggman's plans had been foiled yet again by the courageous team. She knew she'd have to have as much fun as possible while it lasted.

Walking back to the HQ with Sally, Sonic was glad that the team had defeated Eggman again. He still chuckled mentally at every time the man's schemes had been sabotaged _. "I honestly wonder if he would ever give up trying to destroy us but I highly doubt it. That's why I have the Freedom Fighters by my side to protect the innocent from his evil clutches at any price."_ Thinking about those last three words. _"What was Sally even talking about?"_ he thought. _"Impaled? She must've been thinking things."_ Shaking off the thought, he continued with the princess to their base. It wasn't the end, not yet, the doctor always had some tricks up his sleeve and Sonic would be there to take him down.

 **That sums it up. I'm sorry if the story seems rushed at the end but I hope the chapter was good.  
THE STORY IS NOW FINISHED AND I AM DEPRESSED! I loved writing this and it sucks that I have to finish it now.  
So to all you readers, thank you for reading this. It means a lot that so many people like it. And if you did, don't forget to look at my other stories by going to my profile. I am hoping they are just as good.  
For now, THANK YOU, MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEARS FOLKS!**


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